If Tom Cruise gives you the option of backing off before he kicks you squarely in the crotch – take it.

Monday night’s (ahem) kickoff to CinemaCon, the annual theater-owners convention in Las Vegas, revealed the first footage of Cruise as a street-fighting man, playing the rugged drifter Jack Reacher in next December’s crime drama One Shot. Let’s just say he’s not interested in a fair game of fisticuffs.

The scenes aren’t being released yet, but EW has all the details after the jump.

Based on the best-selling novels by Lee Child, Cruise’s casting last summer irked some fans of the books because Reacher, a former Army police officer, is described as being 6-foot-5 and weighing around 250 pounds. He’s a hulk of a man, roaming from town to town under various aliases, and turning vigilante when his sense of right and wrong is offended.

In a taped intro from the set of his sci-fi film Oblivion, currently shooting in Baton Rouge, Cruise acknowledged the physical differences, but said he had Child’s blessing. “For those of you who know the books, I’m obviously not 6-foot-5, like Jack Reacher,” the 5-foot-7 actor said with a laugh. “But Lee felt that I was the right guy to drive fast cars and kick the s–t out of people onscreen.”

With an attitude like that, clearly Cruise knows the spirit of this character.

Disclaimer: What follows doesn’t spoil any major plot points, but does describe the scenes in detail.